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Towels - Applied problems

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by anirudhbhalotia » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:17 am
A store currently charges the same price for each towel that it sells. If the current price of each towel were to be increased by $1, 10 fewer towels could be bought for $120, excluding sales tax. What is the current price of each towel?

A. $1
B. $2
C. $3
D. $4
E. $12

OA - C


I somehow didn't get the question. Some explanation would be nice. Thanks!
"Change is never a matter of ability but always a matter of motivation" - Anthony Robbins
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Source: — Problem Solving |

by force5 » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:30 am
here is my take
let the current price be x
towels that can be bought @ x = 120/x

price increase x+1
towels that can be bought @x+1 = 120/x+1

difference in the quantity of towels bought is given as 10 hence
120/x - 120/x+1 = 10
solving for x you will get x= 3
hence current price is $3 ( choice C)
hope that helps
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by anirudhbhalotia » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:57 am
force5 wrote:here is my take
let the current price be x
towels that can be bought @ x = 120/x

price increase x+1
towels that can be bought @x+1 = 120/x+1

difference in the quantity of towels bought is given as 10 hence
120/x - 120/x+1 = 10
solving for x you will get x= 3
hence current price is $3 ( choice C)
hope that helps

Fantastic...super simplified!
"Change is never a matter of ability but always a matter of motivation" - Anthony Robbins
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:23 am
anirudhbhalotia wrote:A store currently charges the same price for each towel that it sells. If the current price of each towel were to be increased by $1, 10 fewer towels could be bought for $120, excluding sales tax. What is the current price of each towel?

A. $1
B. $2
C. $3
D. $4
E. $12

OA - C


I somehow didn't get the question. Some explanation would be nice. Thanks!
The easiest -- and quickest -- approach is to plug in the answers, which represent the price per towel.

Answer choice C: price per towel = $3
For $120, 120/3 = 40 towels could be bought.
Price increased by $1 = 3+1 = $4 per towel.
For $120, 120/4 = 30 towels could be bought.
40-30 = 10 fewer towels. Success!

The correct answer is C.
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by anirudhbhalotia » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:23 am
GMATGuruNY wrote:
anirudhbhalotia wrote:A store currently charges the same price for each towel that it sells. If the current price of each towel were to be increased by $1, 10 fewer towels could be bought for $120, excluding sales tax. What is the current price of each towel?

A. $1
B. $2
C. $3
D. $4
E. $12

OA - C


I somehow didn't get the question. Some explanation would be nice. Thanks!
The easiest -- and quickest -- approach is to plug in the answers, which represent the price per towel.

Answer choice C: price per towel = $3
For $120, 120/3 = 40 towels could be bought.
Price increased by $1 = 3+1 = $4 per towel.
For $120, 120/4 = 30 towels could be bought.
40-30 = 10 fewer towels. Success!

The correct answer is C.
This solution rocks too!!!
"Change is never a matter of ability but always a matter of motivation" - Anthony Robbins
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